The balance of power in the Berks Wrestling League may not shift, but there has been plenty of movement since last March, when Schuylkill Valley's Colin Shober and Wyomissing teammates Nick Hodgkins and Arty Walsh became the first trio from the county to win state titles in the same year.

Walsh has moved on, and he's far from the only one. Other wrestlers have switched schools and six teams will have new coaches this season.

On the mat, everybody will by trying to catch up to a Schuylkill Valley team that won Berks and District 3-AA titles en route to a third-place finish in the PIAA Team Tournament.

Here are 10 things to watch this winter:

1. Dangerous Panthers

Schuylkill Valley enjoyed one of the greatest wrestling seasons ever for a Berks school last year.

During a 28-2 campaign, the Panthers won the Berks and District 3-AA titles and became the first Berks team to place in the PIAA Team Tournament by coming in third.

Can the Panthers duplicate or even top that this season?

"We'll have to see how the kids progress from now until the end of the year," Schuylkill Valley coach Duane Maurer said. "We may end up with more younger kids than we had last year."

The Panthers lost seven seniors from last year's team. But with 12 seniors - led by returning PIAA Class AA champion Colin Shober - on a 31-man roster, the Panthers have plenty of depth.

They also have star power outside of Shober. Nate Giorgio earned a PIAA Class AA sixth-place medal at 103 pounds last year and Ryan Maurer, son of the coach, was a state qualifier.

Schuylkill Valley returns five wrestlers who won 40 or more bouts, plus Noah Horst, who came up just two short with a 38-9 record.

The Panthers also expect to get a boost from the return of Jeff Mohn, who won 22 bouts as a freshman and 20 as a sophomore before going just 6-3 last year due to injury.

"There's a nice group there." Maurer said. "They have the potential to be a very good group. It will depend on how good everybody else is."

2. Repeat performances

No one was better than Schuylkill Valley's Colin Shober or Wyomissing's Nick Hodgkins last season, at least when it counted.

Hodgkins won the PIAA Class AA 130-pound title and Shober followed by winning the Class AA 135-pound crown. Both looked dominant in their finals performances, but each had to slip past a formidable foe in the semifinals to get the title shot.

With state titles to their credit, the spotlight will be squarely on Hodgkins and Shober, or anybody who can challenge them this season.

Shober starts his senior year at Schuylkill Valley with a 141-14 career record, including a 104-2 mark over the last two seasons. If he can reach 50 wins for the third straight season, Shober would surpass Brandywine Heights grad Matt Yocco's Berks record of 187 wins and put himself in an elite class of Pennsylvania wrestlers with 190 or more wins.

Hodgkins, a junior with an 80-6 career record, also could join an elite group of four-time state finalists. Hodgkins was a runner-up as a freshman in 2008 before winning his title last season

3. Bulldogs with bite

Wilson has won three straight Berks I and District 3 sectional titles. But to hear coach Jan Johnson, the Bulldogs "aren't there yet."

With a solid group of seniors that includes four-year starters Zack Terenfenko, Nick Dragonette, Tim Ravel and Pat O'Brien, this could be the Bulldogs' best chance to get there. They advanced to the Berks County championship match last season before suffering a 43-18 loss to Schuylkill Valley.

Wilson also won its first District 3-AAA Team Tournament match last year.

"Every year you hope and strive to win the county championship," Johnson said. "We haven't gotten there. We have our goals set high."

In addition to the four four-year starters, the Bulldogs have other talent and lots of depth to build a solid team.

"We've got a lot of really good kids," Johnson said.

4. Contending Mustangs

Ralph Voit could point out a lot of reasons why Gov. Mifflin has been missing from the Berks County championship match the last two years after making eight straight appearances.

But the Mustangs coach isn't about to make any excuses. He's just focused on putting the best team possible on the mat and challenging Wilson for the Berks I title.

"You're always going to have injuries in wrestling," said Voit, whose team was hit hard prior to the Berks playoffs in each of the last two years. "You just have to have enough depth and hope other people can step up."

The Mustangs have lots of talent, starting with All-Berks junior Kyle Demain and all-division 215-pounder Zach Schmidt. The Mustangs also have plenty of balance.

One problem is three wrestlers, Schmidt, Louis Acampora and Dave Gurtowski, all weigh about 189 pounds. It's doubtful that any of them will get down to 171.

"If we can put our best 14 wrestlers on the mat, we can compete with anyone," Voit said. "But I'm not sure if we're going to be able to do that."

5. Reloaded Bullets

Losing seasons don't happen very often at Brandywine Heights. So look for the Bullets and Hall of Fame coach Sam Lovello to dramatically improve on last season's 5-12 record.

The Bullets will be led by four-year starters Zane Yocco, Tyler Herman, Phil Calafati and Kyle Stoudt, who all won more than 30 bouts last season. While that was about all Brandywine had last year during its first losing season since 1996-97, they expect to have more help this year.

"With four solid freshmen and some good seniors back, we hope to be a lot more competitive than last year," Lovello said.

Whether or not the Bullets can return to be the team they were when they won three straight Berks titles from 2006-08 remains to be seen. But they are aiming high.

"The team has set some high goals this year both as a team and for the postseason tournaments." Lovello said.

6. New coaches

They're not exactly returning to their roots, but three of the biggest names in Berks wrestling are among the county's six new head coaches.

Conrad Weiser grad Derek Sola has taken over at Hamburg, former Brandywine Heights star John Halulko is in his first year as head coach at Twin Valley and former Oley Valley standout Joe Fick has taken over at Fleetwood.

Sola, a PIAA runner-up as a freshman in 1996 and a sixth-place finisher in 1998, was hired at Hamburg after head coaching stints at Lampeter-Strasburg and Pennridge. Sola won 129 bouts before graduating from Conrad Weiser in 1999.

Halulko, the only three-time state medalist in Brandywine's storied history, won 121 bouts before graduating in 1993. He finished fourth as a senior in '93 after back-to-back sixth-place finishes the previous two years.

Fick was a PIAA Class AA runner-up in 1988 and won 104 scholastic bouts. He was the head coach at Oley for the 19995-96 and 1996-97 seasons.

Other new coaches in Berks are Andy Keppley at Conrad Weiser, Matt Shutt at Daniel Boone and Jon Rugg at Exeter.

Keppley was the junior high coach at Conrad Weiser for the past six years. He was an All-Berks wrestler his seenior year at Weiser in 1995.

Shutt is a 2004 Daniel Boone graduate who served as an assistant for the Blazers.

Rugg is a former North Schuylkill wrestler.

7. Berks II favorite

The Daniel Boone-Conrad Weiser match has decided the Berks II champion in each of the last two years.

Boone won the 2008 title by defeating Weiser 34-29 in the final bout. Last year, the Scouts clinched the title with a convincing 49-21 win.

The match between the Blazers and Scouts in Robesonia Saturday, Jan. 23, very well could determine the champion again. But don't count out Muhlenberg. The Muhls hope to make it a three-team race.

The Muhls figure to be strong in the upperweights, with Dallas Rusden at 215 and Jordan Sweitzer at 285, and have a fairly balanced lineup.

Daniel Boone and Conrad Weiser, each with first-year head coaches. have their own strengths.

The meat of Conrad Weiser's lineup is in the upperweights, with Nate Unger at 171, Nate Luckenbill at 189 and Codie Butler at 215.

Daniel Boone is strong in the middle, with Colin Martucci at 145 and Justin Williams, a Conrad Weiser transfer, at 152.

8. Class AAA state qualifiers

PIAA Class AAA qualifiers from the Berks Wrestling League have been few and far between in recent years. Last year, only Gov . Mifflin's Kyle Demain and Conrad Weiser's Kyle Fuller survived the rugged District 3-AAA Tournament to earn trips to states.

Fuller is gone but Demain remains after an impressive 35-7 sophomore campaign in which he was a 3-AAA runner-up and won his first bout at the state tournament.

Wilson's Nick Dragonette came up one point short in his district third-place bout and is back for one more shot. Twin Valley's Victor Signorelli, who lost to Dragonette in the consolation semifinals, also is back.

Berks could have a couple other contenders such as Reading 285-pounder Isaac Mejia, Daniel Boone's Colin Martucci and a few of Dragonette's teammates. But the struggle to place in the top three of the 3-AAA Tournament has gotten tougher with state powers Central Dauphin, Cumberland Valley and the other Mid-Penn programs in the field.

9. Bears tale

Boyertown has stamped itself as the team to beat in the PAC-10 over the past three seasons, and this year should be no different.

The Bears return four wrestlers who won at least 30 bouts last season, led by two-time state medalist Alex Pellicciotti. Pellicciotti, who went 48-5 last season, opens his senior season with 125 wins, tied for fourth on Boyertown's all-time list. He needs 19 wins to surpass Jesse DeWan as the program's all-time leader.

Senior Matt Malfaro also opens the season with more than 100 wins after going 41-8 last season. Also back are juniors Jeremy Minich, who won 41 bouts, and Zach Heffer, who won 30.

"If we get the kids in the right weights we're going to have a pretty strong team," Boyertown coach Pete Ventresca said. "I'm very optimistic and positive."

The Bears have lost just one PAC-10 match in the the last three years while winning two outright titles and sharing the 2008 crown.

Ventresca said he expects Owen J. Roberts and Upper Perkiomen to also contend for the title.

10. Walsh at Juniata

The transfer of Arty Walsh from Wyomissing to Juniata was well-chronicled last spring. Economic circumstances forced the Walsh family to relocate to the Mifflintown area.

As a freshman, Walsh won the PIAA Class AA 112-pound title to cap a 34-4 season. Although Walsh is gone, Berks County fans will have plenty of opportunity to see him this season.

The Indians will compete in the Blazer Duals at Daniel Boone Monday, Jan. 18. Walsh also is likely to be competing in the District 3-AA Tournament at Hersheypark Arena Feb. 26-27 and make the trip to Wilson March 5-6 for the Southeast Regional Tournament he won last year.

Conrad Weiser also lost one of its best wrestlers to transfer when Matt Bilodeau decided to attend Wyoming Seminary, a private school in Kingston. Bilodeau went 29-8 during his freshman season and won two bouts in the District 3-AAA Tournament.